When Ego Makes Mockery of Its Opponents

This morning I awoke to video footage of Donald Trump mocking White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest for saying that the Putin Administration tried to meddle with the U.S. Presidential Election, and that the Republican nominee approved of it.

I didn’t hear any facts coming from Mr. Trump in his attack against Josh Earnest. It was all personal stuff, the kind of juvenile stuff we used to hear from grade-school bullies. The press secretary, Mr. Trump said, is a “foolish guy.” He’s bad at delivering messages.

After a few weeks of relatively good behavior, it seems our president-elect is back to his old tricks of making fun of people who say anything negative about him.

Perhaps even more disturbing than seeing our president-elect making fun of a White House official were all the people in the audience – mostly white men – laughing at Mr. Earnest’s expense.

What is it within men – and I speak here of men since I think this problem is bigger with us – that makes us turn to ridicule and personal attacks when we lack the facts with which to defend ourselves?

It’s our egos. It’s the uninformed, unaware part of us acting out unconscious scripts that have been running inside us since childhood.

The ego fears nothing more than being exposed. Since it is really nothing more an illusory house of cards that we create to give ourselves an identity in a big world, the ego cannot bear being found out.

For men, having our ego exposed is particularly threatening, since we base so much of our sense of self on our egoes. And so when we are under attack, and we are unconscious, our ego mind lashes out wildly, blindly grasping for any sticks or stones it can find on the ground to throw at an opponent who is attacking its sense of self.

That was Donald Trump yesterday. That is Donald Trump as his worst.

As I watched his tirade yesterday, I had the feeling that I was watching not all of Donald Trump but just his puffed-up ego on display up there at the podium.

Donald Trump is not a stupid man. But his ego is stupid, as is mine, as is yours, as is everyone’s.

The danger comes in when we are unaware of the effect that our ego is having on our judgment. And the bigger the ego, the bigger the danger, especially when we are in a position of power.

No, I’m not in denial. The election is over, the people have spoken, and Donald Trump will be our next president.

But let’s not let ego get in the way of the democratic system. If there was any tampering in the election system, it should be brought out and corrected, because that’s the way it should be.

In the meantime, evolution marches on. The steady progression of the human race is toward awakening: awakening of consciousness, of awareness.

The ego will always try to stop that march forward, because the ego is a part of the dumb past.

As for Mr. Trump … I can only hope that he will grow up, although there’s not much hope of that, I fear.

All the more reason that we stay awake and alert, and speak out when we see our democratic principles under attack.